Instructions
A really intuitive application probably doesn't need instructions,
so you can just press the button
now, or you can read the instructions below first.
Changes (as of March 21, 1997)
- Results are displayed in a much nicer manner. Exponents are raised,
fractions written in a stacked form, etc. The answer panel can be scrolled if needed.
- Error messages are given if results would be wrong due to coefficients
being too large for Java's builtin long type.
- Some error messages are more helpful.
- Error messages are written in red. Comments from the color-blind?
- Lots of parameters to change colors, fonts, font sizes, etc.
- Known bugs fixed.
- Calculator button should load more quickly, since the rest of the calculator
is not loaded until the button is pushed.
Components
The areas labelled p and q are polynomial input areas.
Enter polynomials as follows: x^4-3x^2+5x-1.
Extra spaces, tabs, carriage returns, etc are ignored. The variable (indeterminate) can be
any alphabetic symbol or string.
The area labelled k is used when the p^k button is
pushed. An integer (usually positive) should be entered.
Coefficients
All calculations are carried out using the coefficient ring specified in the
Coefficients panel in the lower right corner.
The coefficients can be integers, rational numbers,
or elements of the integers mod n.
For the last choice, a value for n must also be entered.
The default is to use integer coefficients.
Rational numbers can be written in the form 3/5, or just -7.
Operations
Most of the various operation buttons are self-explanatory.
Some of them, such as r->p, move polynomials between the various fields.
This can be useful if you're doing a series of computations.
The p and q buttons display the polynomial in the r (answer)
field, using the current coefficients.
The p(q) button treats p as the definition of a function and
evaluates that function at q. This can be used to compute numerical
values (within the given coefficient ring), or to perform substitutions in
p.
Restarting the Calculator
If you wish to restart the calculator after closing it,
press the button again. The calculator reappears just as you left it.
Parameters
Here is a list of all the parameters for the calculator applet and their default values.
- Button parameters
- bg Button background color, default: white (ffffff)
- fg Button foreground color, default: black (000000)
- text Button label text, default: "Polynomial Calculator"
- font Button label font, default: TimesRoman
- style Button label font style, default: Italic
- fontsize Button label font size, default: 14
- Calculator parameters
- calcbg Calculator background color, default: light gray (c0c0c0)
- calcfg Calculator foreground color, default: black (000000)
- calcfont Calculator font, default: TimesRoman
- calcfontsize Calculator font size, default: 18
- cols Width of input areas in columns, default: 50
- rows Length of input areas in rows, default: 3
- inputfg Input area foreground color, default: black (000000)
- inputbg Input area background color, default: light gray (c0c0c0)
- outputfg Output area foreground color, default: blue (0000ff)
- outputbg Output area background color, default: white (ffffff)
- errfg Error message foreground color, default: red (ff0000)
The input area size may appear to be different than the numbers of rows
or columns requested, due to differences between browsers.
If the input areas are too small, use larger values for the rows and
cols parameters.
The possible fonts depend on the platform, but usually include
TimesRoman, Helvetica, Courier and Dialog.
The possible font styles are bold, italic, plain or any
combination of these styles.
Comments? Thanks.